School tuition agreement could be costly

Superintendent: Residents could pay 33 percent more

NEWMARKET — Superintendent Jim Hayes told board members that entering into a tuition agreement to send the town's high school students to Oyster River — while also paying to operate a sixth to eighth grade middle school here — will cost residents 33 percent more than they're paying now to educate students in the Newmarket Junior/Senior High School.

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By Jeff McMenemy

seacoastonline.com

By Jeff McMenemy

Posted Aug. 20, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Jeff McMenemy

Posted Aug. 20, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

NEWMARKET — Superintendent Jim Hayes told board members that entering into a tuition agreement to send the town's high school students to Oyster River — while also paying to operate a sixth to eighth grade middle school here — will cost residents 33 percent more than they're paying now to educate students in the Newmarket Junior/Senior High School.

"If you continue operating the way you are ...; the increase over the rate you're paying now is going up 32 or 33 percent," Hayes said. "It's just unbelievable."

He also noted that the increase, which is $2.3 million in the first year of the proposed agreement in 2015-2016, increases to as much as $3.3 million during the length of the agreement or a 40 percent increase.

Hayes also reiterated during Thursday night's School Board meeting at Town Hall that it would cost $16,324 to send each Newmarket student to Oyster River High School under the draft framework officials from both school districts reached.

But that number would jump to $20,075 in 2022-2023.

Hayes said that the real cost per pupil is actually significantly higher, because the tuition payments would not include transportation costs or out-of-area placements for special needs students.

"The real amount we pay for each high school student is just over $19,000," Hayes said for the first year of the agreement.

He also compared the tax increase Newmarket residents would pay under a tuition agreement as opposed to building a new junior/senior high school in Newmarket. The price tag for that, under new cost estimates prepared by the district, has jumped to $50.7 million without a controversial auditorium or $54.9 million with the auditorium.

Hayes made the comparison based on paying for a proposed new school at a five percent interest rate over 25 years.

Under that scenario, the school's portion of a tax bill would increase immediately as soon as construction began by $4.59 per $1,000 dollars of assessed valuation and then stay steady, while a tuition agreement would increase the school's portion of the tax bill by $2.97 per $1,000 during the first year of the agreement and then jump as high as an increase of $4.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, Hayes said.

"In FY 22, you're almost paying as much for the tuition agreement as you would for a new school," Hayes said.

School Board member Nathan Lunney said it would be cheaper to go with a tuition agreement for the first seven years, but then that changes.

"For seven years I'm going to be paying more for a school project, but for the next 18 years I'm going to be paying who knows how much higher for tuition," Lunney said.

Hayes also pointed out that under the proposed tuition agreement framework, if Oyster River's enrollment drops, Newmarket ends up paying more, because it's paying for a bigger part of the school's operations.

He also said that the increase in the early years of the proposed tuition agreement is lower because Barrington students would still be going there. But that changes after a few years.

"The cost and rate get disguised because Barrington students are there," Hayes said.

Oyster River's Superintendent James Morse attended Thursday's meeting and said he expects his board to reach a decision anywhere from mid-October to Thanksgiving about who they want to enter into a tuition agreement with.

The four possible options are Newmarket, Barrington, Deerfield or Deerfield and Barrington.

Reaching a deal with Newmarket would bring in the most tuition money, Morse said. Morse added that he thought the board would be open to negotiating a lower tuition rate than the one called for in the draft framework.

Hayes said Thursday he expects the hold public meetings on the proposed tuition agreement in September, but the dates have not yet been set.